Trading for the week began on a positive note as the key indices drifted higher in early trade on positive Asian stocks. At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 153.74 points or 0.41% at 37,504.07. The Nifty 50 index was up 46.15 points or 0.42% at 11,093.95.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.49%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.51%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 842 shares rose and 377 shares fell. A total of 70 shares were unchanged.

Tech Mahindra rose 0.76%. Tech Mahindra informed divestment of 73.38% equity investment held by the company in FixStream Networks Inc., USA, a subsidiary company for $2 million. The announcement was made on Sunday, 18 August 2019.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries gained 3.18% after the company announced that one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has granted an exclusive license to a subsidiary of China Medical System Holdings Ltd. (CMS) to develop and commercialize seven generic products in Mainland China. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 16 August 2019.

Tltan Company rose 0.85%. Tltan Company purchased 9,45,000 equity shares from one of the shareholders of Carat Lane Trading (CaratLane), a subsidiary of the company, thereby increasing its stake in CaratLane by 2.8%. Pursuant to this, the shareholding of the company in CaratLane has increased from 69.5% to 72.3%. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 16 August 2019.

TVS Motor Company rose 0.06%. TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte., a wholly-owned subsidiary of TVS Motor Company, has signed definitive agreements to invest US$ 3.2 million in Predictronics Corporation, a US corporation, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, which specialises in providing end-to-end predictive maintenance analytics solutions. The announcement was made on Saturday, 17 August 2019.

BEML fell 0.5%. BEML said that its order book position stood at Rs 8917 crore as on 30 June 2019. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 16 August 2019.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading higher on Monday as hopes of more stimulus from central banks around the world and steps being taken by major economies such as Germany and China soothed investors' fears of a sharp global economic slump.

US stocks rebounded on Friday as news of potential German economic stimulus brought buyers back to the equities market.